Kevin Pelphrey, Ph.D.

Kevin Pelphrey, Ph.D., has been named the Harris Family Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry in the Child Study Center. Pelphrey studies brain mechanisms underlying the development of different aspects of social cognition. His interests include the development of social perception, the perception and regulation of emotion, and the development of theory of mind—a crucial cognitive capacity defined as the ability to make inferences about the mental states of others. Pelphrey completed his doctorate in psychology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 2001. He then held a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at Duke University. He remains a core faculty member of Duke University’s Brain Imaging and Analysis Center. Pelphrey is a frequent collaborator with colleagues in Yale’s Department of Psychology; he is also a member of the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program and the Cognitive Science Program.